1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording method of performing recording on a recording medium by using a multicolor ink ribbon, a recording apparatus using the recording method, and a recording control method of the multicolor ink ribbon.
2. Related Background Art
A multicolor ink ribbon for a serial printer is obtained by sequentially coating a plurality of inks of different colors each having a predetermined length in a frame-sequence manner on the surface of a film having a predetermined width. In order to discriminate the coated colors, a bar code is formed on each color coated portion.
Conventionally, in order to perform recording by using this ink ribbon, the ink ribbon is wound before recording to read the bar codes until a desired color portion is detected. When the desired color portion is detected, recording is sequentially performed for each color from the desired color.
In this case, the length of the ink coated portion of each color (the length of a portion on which the same color is continuously coated) is predetermined. For this reason, in order not to record the next color beyond a given color portion, a maximum recording length of continuous recording in each color is set beforehand so that continuous recording is not performed beyond the length.
In order to perform recording exceeding the maximum continuous recording length, therefore, a recording operation is temporarily stopped, and the ink ribbon is wound to monitor the bar codes until the same color coated portion is detected at the next recording position. When the same color portion is detected, recording of the remaining portion is resumed. Unfortunately, an ink portion of another color coated between the recorded color is not used but unnecessarily wound.
In order to eliminate this drawback, a continuous ink coated length of each color may be increased. If the continuous ink coated portion is too long, however, a certain color is recorded only by a small amount and then another color is to be recorded, however, a large portion of the continuous ink coated length of the first color is unnecessarily wound without being used.
In a conventional system, therefore, in consideration of the width of a recording sheet, the continuous ink coated length is determined to be slightly longer than the recording sheet width so that recording can be continuously performed with respect to the longitudinal dimension (=257 mm) of a B4-size recording sheet or the longitudinal dimension (=210 mm) of an A4-size recording sheet.
In the above conventional system, however, a unit continuous recording length is taken into consideration. Therefore, if a narrow sheet such as a post card is used, the recording range is narrow. For this reason, a large amount of one continuous ink coated portion is unnecessarily wound without being used.
In order to solve this problem, in addition to a conventional ink ribbon, a specific ink ribbon having a short continuous ink coated length may be formed for a narrow sheet such as a post card. However, this method is not practical when manufacturing cost, the need for a method of discriminating between the two types of ink ribbons, and possible erroneous operation by a user are taken into consideration.